Initia ($INIT) Halts Its Blockchain After a Second Hack in 18 Days Drains $615,000 Through Faked Bridge Transfers

Published November 10, 2026, 10:15 PM PKT. Based on Initia's announcement of November 10, 2026, Binance market data of November 10, 2026, and security reporting from Protos, crypto.news, The Defiant and KuCoin, published November 10, 2026.

Initia ($INIT) halted its layer-1 blockchain on November 10, 2026, after an attacker used compromised infrastructure keys to fabricate cross-chain transfers and drain about $615,000 from escrow accounts. It is the network's second security incident in less than three weeks, and combined losses of about $3.3 million now exceed the chain's remaining total value locked, according to Protos.

The halt took effect at 06:18 UTC, or 11:18 a.m. PKT, after Initia coordinated with its validators, the network said in a post on X. The team said it acted after identifying unauthorized transfers from escrow accounts on the Initia layer 1 that hold assets bridged to several rollups. The chain has not resumed block production, and the investigation is ongoing.

The halt came at 06:18 UTC

Initia announced the pause in a post on X at about 07:07 UTC, roughly 50 minutes after block production stopped. "The Initia L1 was halted at 06:18 UTC on November 10 in coordination with validators as a protective measure," the post said. "We took this step after identifying unauthorized transfers from the escrow accounts on the Initia L1 that hold assets bridged to several rollups."

The move reversed the picture from just hours earlier. On November 9, Initia had said it was investigating an issue with its rollup infrastructure and had coordinated a temporary pause of the affected rollups, with no cause named and no impact on user funds identified. The layer 1 itself stayed online through that announcement. By the morning of November 10, the problem had a cause, a dollar figure, and a full chain halt.

Compromised keys, faked IBC transfers

According to Initia, the transfers were made using compromised rollup infrastructure keys that allowed the attacker to fabricate transfers over IBC, short for Inter-Blockchain Communication, the standard protocol that connected blockchains use to pass instructions and payments between each other. The escrow accounts hold assets that users deposited to bridge into Initia's rollups, and the fabricated messages told the system to release them.

The mechanism matters because nothing in the software itself appears to have been broken this time. The signatures on the fabricated transfers were valid, because the attacker held the real keys. The notary that checks those signatures had no way to know the people holding them were not the rollups' operators. That makes this a key-management failure rather than a code flaw, and it is a different kind of breach from the one that hit the network in October.

How much actually left the chain

Initia's preliminary figure is about $605,000 in USD Coin ($USDC), plus about $10,000 in other tokens, all of which left the network through Noble, a separate blockchain best known as a gateway for USD Coin ($USDC). That puts the total that made it off-chain at about $615,000. Security firm SlowMist lists the loss at $615,000, while CertiK counted about $636,000 in suspicious outflows across 16 successful transfers to Noble, according to crypto.news. None of the figures is final.

The more important number may be the one that did not leave. Initia said most of the assets removed from the escrow accounts are still sitting on its own halted chain, which means they may be recoverable through validator coordination while block production is stopped. The team said it is working with security specialists, validators and cryptocurrency exchanges to determine the full scope of the incident.

The second breach in 18 days

The November incident is the second time in 18 days that Initia has stopped its chain over a security breach. On October 23, a flaw in the MoveVM software engine that runs the network let an attacker mint fake money and cash out about $2.7 million, forcing an outage that lasted nine days. Full operations only restarted on November 2, after a code patch and an asset remediation plan set out in the network's recovery notices.

Added together, the two incidents cost about $3.3 million, more than the chain's remaining total value locked, Protos reported. Initia counts Binance Labs, Delphi Ventures and HackVC among its backers, and describes its layer 1 as a base layer and central liquidity hub for its interwoven rollups. The network has not confirmed whether the November incident involved the same attacker responsible for the October exploit.

The token kept climbing anyway

The market reaction was the opposite of what a second halt in three weeks would normally produce. On Binance, Initia ($INIT) traded at $0.2785 at 5:10 p.m. UTC, up 94.31% over 24 hours, after opening the session at $0.14333. The intraday high was $0.33193 and the low was $0.13625, with 24-hour quote volume of $32.29 million.

Hourly data show the token barely paused for the halt announcement. It closed at $0.22509 at 6 a.m. UTC, drifted to $0.19335 by 11 a.m. UTC, then climbed through the afternoon, closing at $0.31231 at 2 p.m. UTC after touching the session high of $0.33193 in that hour, and $0.28156 at 4 p.m. UTC. CoinGecko put the 24-hour gain at about 74% earlier in the day, and KuCoin's desk reported the token briefly touching $0.244 and topping the gainers list. The token still trades about 80% below its all-time high of $1.42, set in May 2025, according to CoinGecko.

What comes next: restart and recovery

Two questions decide what happens next. The first is whether validators can recover the escrow assets that never left the halted chain, and whether the roughly $615,000 that reached Noble can be frozen or traced. The second is when block production resumes, and on what terms. Initia has not published a restart timetable, and the investigation is still establishing the full scope of the incident.

Until then, the contrast stands. A network that lost about $2.7 million in October, paused its rollups on November 9 without naming a cause, and halted its entire chain the next morning after a second breach, has seen its token roughly double in a day. Traders are either betting the damage is contained and the restart comes fast, or they are trading the volatility itself. Either way, the chain's security record, not its price chart, is the story that will decide whether the rally holds.

Sources

• Initia, post on X, November 10, 2026 (primary source: Initia L1 halted at 06:18 UTC on November 10 in coordination with validators as a protective measure; unauthorized transfers from escrow accounts on the Initia L1 that hold assets bridged to several rollups; transfers made using compromised rollup infrastructure keys allowing an attacker to fabricate IBC transfers)
• Protos, Binance Labs-backed Initia hacked again, $3.3M lost in three weeks, published November 10, 2026 (secondary source: infrastructure key compromise led to at least $615,000 in losses; combined with $2.7 million lost in October, more than the chain's remaining total value locked; most assets removed from escrow accounts remain on Initia and may be recoverable via validator coordination; backers include Binance Labs, Delphi Ventures and HackVC)
• crypto.news, Initia halts blockchain after $615K exploit as INIT price surges over 60%, published November 10, 2026 (secondary source: Initia reported approximately $615,000 in unauthorized transfers; CertiK identified roughly $636,000 across 16 transactions; INIT gained 61.31% over 24 hours with trading volume of approximately $84.81 million, per CoinGecko; October 23 exploit involved approximately $2.7 million; Initia has not confirmed whether the November incident involved the same attacker as October)
• The Defiant, Initia Halts L1 After $605,000 USDC Outflow, Team Says, published November 10, 2026 (secondary source: $605,000 in USD Coin ($USDC) and $10,000 in other tokens left the network; preliminary investigation points to compromised rollup infrastructure keys used to fabricate cross-chain transfers)
• KuCoin, Initia Chain Halts Operations Following Security Breach; INIT Token Rises 80%, published November 10, 2026 (secondary source: INIT surged 80% in 24 hours, briefly topping $0.23 and trading at $0.234; Initia L1 paused operations at 14:18 Beijing time, or 06:18 UTC, in coordination with validators; approximately $605,000 in USD Coin ($USDC) withdrawn via Noble plus $10,000 in other tokens; majority of remaining assets still held on the suspended L1)
• Binance market data, INIT/USDT 24-hour ticker and hourly klines, November 10, 2026 (primary source: last price $0.2785 at 5:10 p.m. UTC, up 94.31% over 24 hours; open $0.14333, high $0.33193, low $0.13625; quote volume $32.29 million; hourly closes $0.22509 at 6 a.m. UTC, $0.22283 at 7 a.m. UTC, $0.21694 at 8 a.m. UTC, $0.21920 at 9 a.m. UTC, $0.20729 at 10 a.m. UTC, $0.19335 at 11 a.m. UTC, $0.21156 at noon UTC, $0.23845 at 1 p.m. UTC, $0.31231 at 2 p.m. UTC, $0.27300 at 3 p.m. UTC, $0.28156 at 4 p.m. UTC)
• CoinGecko, Initia ($INIT) market data, November 10, 2026 (secondary source: all-time high $1.42 in May 2025; 24-hour gain of about 74% earlier in the day)

This article is news reporting and is not investment advice.